(Football news) Mohamed Salah scored the fastest hattrick in Champions League history as Liverpool thrashed Rangers 7-1 at the Ibrox Stadium in the UEFA Champions League. The hosts took the lead through Scott Arfield in the 17th minute but Roberto Firmino equalised seven minutes later. The Reds went all guns blazing in the second half, scoring six goals which included substitute Salah netting three times in six minutes. Firmino scored his second goal in the 55th minute to give Liverpool the lead and set up Darwin Nunez in the 66th minute, who scored his second goal in two games. Salah’s hattrick was followed by a goal from Harvey Elliot in the 87th minute, resulting in Rangers’ heaviest ever defeat in a competitive fixture at the Ibrox. 

The result means that Liverpool now need just one point to progress into the knockout stage after Napoli beat Ajax 4-2. Rangers are on the bottom of their group and don’t have a chance of remaining in the Champions League this season. Jurgen Klopp will be undoubtedly happy with his team’s second half performance and will be hoping that the Reds can replicate it against Manchester City at Anfield this Sunday. Salah has now scored 38 Champions League goals for Liverpool, more than any other player for an English club, surpassing Didier Drogba and Sergio Aguero. Since the start of last season, Liverpool have won nine out of 10 group stage games in the competition while Rangers have conceded seven goals in the competition for the first time in their history. 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said “It changed the mood definitely. It's completely different. We usually drink a beer after away games but it's that long ago I drank a beer I'll probably be drunk after one. Yes, it changed the mood completely but we all know who we are welcoming on Sunday and this will be a different game but it's better to go into it with this feeling we've got tonight than any other. All the goals were great, how we set them up and finished them off. Typical Mo [Salah]. Very important, the whole thing, how the boys adapted to it, to the positions, to the line-up, the reaction of the boys on the pitch, I thought everybody who started tonight played really well, I can't think of one player who didn't have a good game, the two kids right and left wing really good, Fabio [Carvalho] and Harvey [Elliott], and when you can change like we did tonight and the boys come on ready to contribute then things like this can happen. A freak result, we all know that, and we don't make more of it than we should, but obviously it's the best we could have asked for and I'm pretty pleased."

Speaking after the match, Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst said “The first hour we were there and we can make it difficult for many opponents at Ibrox but the way we played the last 25 minutes, you will lose against any team we play here. I cannot explain. I have to process this, I cannot explain at the moment. Of course we need to accept the criticism. It's part of my job, part of the players' job. When you perform like this – I don't mean the whole 90 minutes, but the last 25 minutes – you will get criticism and we have to take it on the chin. It was a very disappointing result. We played well in the first half and were in the game. The second goal – we know their strength. When you lose the ball in the middle of the pitch they are so fast on transition. We got caught a couple of times. We conceded too many easy goals. It went pretty quickly after that. We tried to push, but after the 3-1 you could see we were struggling. They upped the tempo and we weren't accurate in our passing."

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